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Discovery's "Big Giant Swords"
I stumbled across a show on the Discovery Channel called "Big, Giant Swords.." Has anyone else seen it or heard of the people involved?

The swords have nothing to do with history, so there's no point in discussing that aspect. However, I don't think it's a series that will paint serious collectors in a positive light.


Last edited by Chad Arnow on Sun 18 Jan, 2015 9:26 am; edited 1 time in total
Ooooh. It makes me sad this exists. For so many reasons. :cry:
Oh Dear.

I looked at the webpage and intro video. The level of Q&A and premise of the whole show makes my brain hurt. This won't help anybody to understand swords better, or to be taken seriously.
Quote:
After completing each job, Mike musters all of his strength - and his wild imagination - to put his creation to an outlandish test, to prove that it is a real, working sword.


what, like dropping it on someones foot?
Sigh.

After all the work in getting our culture aware that swords are generally pretty light and maneuverable, we get this.

100 lbs as a "real working sword?" Really?
Is this the guy on the Vineyard? I should see if I can show him what real swords were like, maybe he'd be interested?
He probably would. But would it get him a craaaaazy show on tv? probably not. Although you might get a slot on an episode as a nice juxtaposition. Bill yourself as some kind of mystic bladesmith who only forges by moonlight and only drinks pure dew from jasmine flowers and off you go.
Seems that these shows are about characters, not concepts, and it would appear they have found a character from a quick look. Bully on him for figuring out a way to get paid.
I'm doing one over here right now. No matter they have the best people in their game with awesome kit, its all about how we react to stuff and our emotional baggage.
I watched the first show. I didn't like the people. They annoyed me. They seemed like yahoos.

The sword aspect of things wasn't really relevant to me since it hasn't much to do with swords, or weapons for that matter. They're more metal art... or something.
I dunno guys, I think we just found a pop quote goldmine...
"Did that moth just fall out of your beard?"
"Yes, yes it did. Don't dwell on it."

And now we've met the "historical antecedent" of the Klingon Battleh-thing.

Seriously, I think the only people who will be lead astray by this show are the ones who are already convinced that all European swords were 100-lb barely -edged things that had to be straightened out after every encounter - and that the only thing that outperforms a katana is a lightsaber.

I might actually watch this show a few times before my true guilty pleasure programming returns... "Irish Mike" makes it pretty clear that he's a creative nut, making nutty things, for nutty people. Gods bless him for it. The program makes it pretty clear too. I love creative nuts, even if I'm not enthralled by the specific thing they are creating.

All these "reality" artisan shows seem to require some antagonist factor, but hopefully they don't depend on Mrs. Irish's financial worrying. If I want that kind of conflict I don't need to turn on the telly.

Imagine the creative team's pitch for this show: "Well sir, we found this crazy artist who makes crazy big ass swords..." "Okay. What do you call the show?" "Um. 'Crazy Big Ass Swords'. If we can get away with it."
tv would like to do worthy historical stuff but stuff keeps getting in the way. Series 2 of Hollow Crown about to air, stack heels and rubbery breastplates ahoy! But its billed as must see worthy historical edutainment. I've been in loads. Keep your head down, try not to make waves, cash the cheque. I try harder when I'm in a position too and that's my job of course.

'No! those barrel bands are wrong!' was one memorable cry of angst on location.....
Oh and Wolf Hall is a bit bettter than most. I tried...I tried..

Trouble is, you can give advice, they don't have to listen. It comes down to 'I don't care if its right, its not as pretty as the alternative'.
Someone at work mentioned this and I cringed. Taking a look at the website, the "25 Amazing Sword Facts" are not helping the situation. One of them reads: "The earliest swords known to mankind were from the 6th Century." - WTFO? That's horrendously off even if they meant BC!

Another: "As technology improved, single edged swords became increasingly more popular and these were commonly found throughout Asia with such swords as the tachi and the katana."

Well, it looks like we're being set back again...
Yeah, I saw this in the listings the other night. For half a second I thought it might be a good show with an awful name... now I know it's an awful show with an awful name. They should have called it "Big Giant Weird Art Projects." :p
Neil Bockus wrote:
Taking a look at the website, the "25 Amazing Sword Facts" are not helping the situation. One of them reads: "The earliest swords known to mankind were from the 6th Century." - WTFO? That's horrendously off even if they meant BC!


Is there any "Sword Fact" among those 25 that isn't downright wrong or at least grossly misleading? I looked through them and found big problems with practically every single "fact".
It looks like they're just cutting enormous SLO's out of bar stock and welding decorations to them. This is going to be worse than Man At Arms.
Tyler Jordan wrote:
It looks like they're just cutting enormous SLO's out of bar stock and welding decorations to them. This is going to be worse than Man At Arms.


You know, it's funny you say that, as despite all the issues with Man At Arms, they do produce functional weapons, so long as the original design was itself at least somewhat functional. Obviously, what what most of us want to see here is the forging of weapons in a historical vein, even if the methods are modernized to a degree. Man At Arms tends to cut a lot of corners in that regard. On the other hand, if you have a much more historical basis for the work, most people would not be interested in a series on it, as it takes a long time to produce work of exceptional quality by hand. For instance, in the following video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_PS2l31EhM

...This sword, or at least the blade, took THREE MONTHS to forge. A weekly television series would in all likelyhood not appeal to a large audience if they focused on just one smith for that timeframe to make a good sword. With the Irish Mike fellow, they have an amusing, eccentric fellow who makes interesting novelty items, which will attract viewers. For realism's sake, yeah, I'd actually rather see Man At Arms on television, as they make more realistic weaponry, but the characters would likely not be as entertaining, the fake drama would be there, and what have you. I think the truth is that people tend to be more interested in people than in things and processes; as a result, you end up with these goofy television programs with all manner of nonsense. And the nonsense is there too, as escapism appeals to everyone in some form or fashion... unless you happen to be a robot.
The time when the Discovery Channel programming made a pretense toward living up to their supposed charter for existence disappeared in the rear view long ago.
I liked Ancient Warriors, if you remember that series from the 90's. A modern and improved version of something like that would be awesome! Big Giant Swords just isn't designed in a way to appeal to our demographic at all.
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